While Finn was taking five wickets at Edgbaston, to bowl England into a dominant position after day two of the third match in the Ashes series, Giles was taking flak on social media for his January 2014 verdict on the Middlesex man.

Yet there were few as pleased as Giles to see Finn ripping through the Australian batting line-up.

Steven Finn took a five-wicket haul as England moved to the brink of victory over Australia in the third Test

Finn's superb performance comes 18 months after he was called 'unselectable' by coach Ashley Giles

Share this article

Share

Looking back to England's dismal 2013-14 winter tour, Giles said: 'I picked up the one-day squad after what had already been a really horrid winter for the Test team in the Ashes.

'I was excited about picking up Steven because he was a major part of our one-day team and our T20 team, only to be told he was in a pretty bad place and in fact he hadn't even bowled at batsmen for a couple of weeks, he'd been that bad.

'I was as devastated as everyone. It became apparent quick quickly. He was clearly in a bad place and the best thing to do was to send him home.

'You can argue about the wording, but I think I first said he was 'non-selectable' which became 'unselectable'. The best thing to do was take him home, take him out of that environment, let him go home and work on his game and come back stronger.'

Finn bowls against Australia's Mitchell Starc during day two of the third Test at Edgbaston

Finn did not play a single competitive match between arriving Down Under in late October 2013 and departing, and was the only one of the initial 17-man Ashes squad not to appear in the Test series.

'He felt his game was going backwards, and when you're like that the worst place on Earth you can be is in Australia with the team particularly when they're struggling and that's where we were,' Giles added on BBC Radio Five Live.

'No one wanted Steven around more than me. But he was a shadow of his former self at that time.

'It's great to see him back and it's great to see him bowling so well for England and possibly bowling England to an Ashes victory.'

Finn and Stuart Broad (left) celebrate after Australia's Mitchell Johnson is caught out by Ben Stokes

Advertisement

Share or comment on this article:

Ashley Giles defends himself after Steven Finn stars for England at Edgbaston